We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
Center of pressure under a saddle
Posted by RodandDenise on March 4, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
A long time ago, in a blog post far, far away… I posted this picture of how a rider’s weight is distributed on a saddle tree. You have the red circle showing where the weight on the rider’s pin/seat bones and other associated soft tissues is positioned. You have the blue circle representing the weight carried on the rider’s thighs. (Note that the circles just show where the weight is carried, not the amount of weight carried there.) And the black arrow indicates where the weight of the rider’s legs in the stirrups is carried – mid way in the stirrup groove where the stirrup leather goes over the bars. The point being that the entire weight of the rider is not directly under their seat…
There are still firsts...
Posted by RodandDenise on February 26, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
You would think that after twenty years of building trees, we’d be running short of different things to do. Nope… While we have built a fair number of exposed wood horn caps in the past,
What do you call a group of tree makers?
Posted by RodandDenise on February 12, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
A forest? In that case, here are a couple of seedlings and a (relatively) mature maple - because he is Canadian, after all...
From left to right: Greg Cymbaluk, Rod Nikkel, Dusty Smith
How do I measure my horse for bar angles?
Posted by RodandDenise on February 9, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
We occasionally hear of people using protractors to try and measure angles off their horse and correlate them to bar angles on saddle trees. You just can’t do that – and here’s why…
Kids these days...
Posted by RodandDenise on January 20, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
We’ve had an additional body around the shop the past couple of weeks.
Bridging
Posted by RodandDenise on January 7, 2016
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
This is a bridge. It contacts at both ends and has lots of empty space underneath it.
Merry Christmas!!!
Posted by RodandDenise on December 23, 2015
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
Merry Christmas everyone!! OK, so the shape isn't quite right...
Once upon a time...
Posted by RodandDenise on December 19, 2015
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
back in the ‘80’s, there was a cowboy…
For the past twenty five years
Posted by RodandDenise on December 15, 2015
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
I've had the privilege of being able to ride my engagement ring...
Flat on round and round on flat - a paradox
Posted by RodandDenise on December 12, 2015
We are no longer building saddle trees. We have two saddle fit videos available on our westernsaddlefit.com website. Western Saddle Fit - The Basics, aimed at riders, is available either on DVD or streaming on Vimeo while the six hour series Well Beyond the Basics, aimed more for professionals but understandable by anyone, is available by streaming on Vimeo. (We left this website up because we have had many requests to keep the information available.)
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Some people think that when we get Dennis Lane measurements or back drawings of a horse, we make the bottom of our bars the exact reverse of the back shape of the horse. Nope, we don’t. We have to make the tree fit that horse - to work whether the horse is standing still or moving, is walking, trotting or loping, is going uphill or down, is dragging a calf to the fire or holding the rope while the cowboy is doctoring the animal. This means that we learn the basic body type of the horse from the drawings or DL measurements and then we make the tree with the allowances built in that are needed to fit that body type.
